Outdoor brand Berghaus is celebrating after its office refurbishment won a prestigious national award.  The company’s global headquarters in Sunderland, North East England, secured the title of Best Fit Out of Workplace in the 2016 British Council for Offices Awards, presented at a ceremony in London this week.  The awards celebrate excellence in the built workplace and Berghaus picked up the national prize after already securing the regional accolade for the north of England.

The refurbishment of the Berghaus office began early in 2014 and was completed in December 2015 (see ‘Note to editors’ below).  The work involved major upgrades to both floors of the HQ, which was built for the company in 1999 and can accommodate up to 140 staff.  The project was led by the company’s HR director, Sarah Middleton, with regular input from representatives of departments across the business.  Interior design work and planning was managed by Katie Greenyer, creative director at parent company Pentland Brands, and project architect was London firm Rock Townsend.

Richard Leedham, Berghaus brand president, comments: “We are delighted to accept this major national award, which I believe is richly deserved by the fantastic team that worked on the refurbishment, both in house, from our parent company Pentland and at Rock Townsend.  We closely involved employees at every stage of the project and they really did help to shape what we did to the building.

“The result is that we are able to develop and market cutting edge outdoor products in truly world-class headquarters.  This is already having a positive effect in the business and is a really great development for current and future team members.  It is a wonderful environment in which to work and I think that the company can take great pride in this.”

Richard Kauntze, chief executive of the BCO, comments: “This project perfectly exemplifies what can be achieved with the creative re-use of an existing building and its spaces.  Despite being a rather typical out of town office building of its period, the project team were unhindered in transforming the building, in a cost effective way, into a modern working environment to be proud of.”